The Areaware Bottle Opener is one of those beautifully simple pieces of design that are also immensely practical. Made from Beech Wood or Walnut the opener is shaped so it holds easily in the hand. It utilises a magnet to hold the bottle cap in place while a bent nail easily slides under and you just pull back to open your beverage. When the bottle is opened the magnet holds onto the cap so there’s no fumbling around the benchtop as it bounces away. It also has a second outer magnet so you can keep it on your fridge door. Seriously it is that simple yet amazing that you will be kicking yourself for not already thinking of it.

Everyone knows that when you want to mix a crazy, fruity, Polynesian inspired rum-based cocktail that may or may not be set on fire that you need to do it in a tiki mug. At the beginning of the challenge I didn’t have my own tiki mug so I was in the market for one. On a recent visit to the always awesome Outre Gallery in Melbourne I managed to find a suitably cool tiki set from the fine people at Tiki Farm.

The set I purchased is a limited edition one of only 500 by the artist Claudette Barjoud. It comes with a pitcher, two mugs and two swizzle stir sticks that are tall enough to be used with the pitcher. I liked the fact that it was more of a classic cocktail set as opposed to some of the other tiki bowl and mug sets. I was also lucky enough to pick-up the last one at Outre, but I think there are still some available through Tiki Farm and Claudette’s site.

What really drew me to the set was the colors. The black and red were really eye-catching with the etched red images playing well against the smooth, satiny black ceramic. Then I saw the artwork, which is just amazing, as it features a bunch of scantly clad tiki girls in leopard print. The girls all look very cool and Claudette has a very cool, stylized design. The design was also a change from the usual tiki mugs you see, something else I found appealing, but they are still definitely inspired by mainstream Polynesian culture.

All in all I’m very happy with my purchase and I can’t wait to use them.